Last year with a group mostly made up of juniors, Avon showed something.
The Eagles defeated two of the top three teams in the Southwestern Conference and pushed Avon Lake to the limit twice on the way to a 15-8 season. That team that pushed the SWC’s best is now back as seniors, including the return of all five starters.
As simple as it might sound, Avon has been focusing on details to improve as a whole this season. The margin of error is slim across the conference, so taking advantage of the little things could pay big dividends.
“When you have a young team, it’s hard to focus on that stuff,” Avon coach Mike Fitch said. “We had good meetings as a coaching staff the whole summer saying how we’re going to get to the next step. It’s all about those little details. Preaching the importance of those things is what we’ve been focusing on.”
Avon will be without Nolan Good for a while as he recovers from his football injury, but is expected back at some point. With that being said, there’s more than enough production for this team to count on.
Point guard Tyson Ziegler is going to run the show again. He will joined on the wing by Nathan Farley and Zane Austin. Those three, along with Good, all averaged between 10-12 points per game to lead a balanced attack. Joey Griffiths is back along with Sam Toniolo down low. Paul Leftrict is the other returner who played varsity minutes last season.
This is suddenly a veteran squad that looks to contend at the top of the conference. The Eagles had a taste of success toward the top, but fell back in the standings as the season went on. Now they want to make the proper jump required to be in the hunt come February.
“We’re very excited,” Ziegler said. “We just want to go out there and end it on a good note and win a conference championship.”
Avon has the main core figured out, so the biggest remaining question mark is the bench. The Eagles didn’t have seniors in the starting lineup last season, but players such as Matt Fischer, Evan Garcia and Luke Schafer will be tough to replace. This team has its old players to rely on, but some players from the JV will be asked and fill those spots.
“That’s the thing you look forward to when you have seven seniors. You don’t want to have a big letdown next year,” Fitch said. “Them getting the minutes and experience that they’re going to get this year (is important). We need to find minutes for them so next year we’re not falling off from a lot of experience to no experience.”
Avon is known for its football prowess. This group of senior basketball players looks to make a statement on the hardwood. Only a small contingent of the team plays football, so the rest have continued working on their craft in the gym.
They’ve been playing together for a long time and this season will be the culmination of it. The Eagles have chemistry and that’s an important thing with a lot of talented players around graduating this past spring.
“We’ve put in a lot of offseason work,” Farley said. “I felt like we’ve put in a lot of work and built up chemistry over the summer. … I’ve been playing basketball for nine years and I’m going to go out and play hard. I’m super excited for the season.”
